Easy Way to Make Kefir At Home

Always remember that Kefir is a drink with a consistency similar to liquid yogurt or evaporated milk. Basically, you just need to add some Kefir Starter to milk and wait around 24 hours (or less) to make it. There is a catch though. Kefir starters are not as good as Kefir Grains and I’ll be telling you all about it right now.

Real kefir grains are hard to kill. They keep on multiplying on and on which means you have an endless supply… for life. Just remember to take care of them and you’ll be fine.

Kefir starters, which are commonly sold in your grocery stores, don’t have the full complement of probiotic bacteria and yeast found in natural live Kefir Grains.

What does a Kefir Grain look like?
If you know how a cauliflower looks like, then just imagine that and you pretty much have an idea of what kefir grains look like. They’re cauliflower like grains that are colored white, sometimes yellowish and somewhat slimy and squishy.

Why shouldn’t I buy Kefir Starter? Isn’t it easier!
As I’ve said before, with natural live Kefir grains, you won’t need to keep on buying. It’s easy to take care of them and they last you a life time. A bonus is, kefir grains keep growing. So after just a few weeks, you could actually give or even sell those to other people. Talk about a return on investment!

You see, Kefir Starters are just that! A starter! It needs to be replaced over and over again. If you really want to test out kefir starters, look for them on Amazon or your local supermarket.

Tell me now! How can I make this?
A kefir starter is placed into heated milk. Then you simply follow the instructions on the box. Which is usually just that. Place it in heated milk. 🙂

Live grains are placed into cold or room temperature milk which is what we usually have in our house. Another type is where you just put sugared water.

What? There are other types?
Yes! There’s what we call water kefir grains, which look like transparent grains because they’re prepared with water and sugar or fruits, where the micro-organisms metabolise the sugar from the water. This is PERFECT for people that don’t like the taste of milk. The one we’ve been talking about is milk kefir. It’s white cauliflower looking grains, and these kefir grains use the lactose and milk sugar. As we’ve said before, being lactose intolerant is not a problem when drinking this, because the yeast and bacteria consume the lactose.

Can you give me a step by step guide to making Kefir?Like I said last time, Kefir can be made from ANY milk, be it a cow’s, a goat’s, a sheep’s, an ox’s or even a coconut’s! Every single one is healthy for you so don’t worry. Just experiment and see what you like!

First, you need Kefir Grains. They are the squishy cauliflower looking stuff I was telling you about. Put them in room temperature milk or cold milk. They need to break it down to produce the Kefir. The grains are then removed with a strainer when the kefir is ready. Put the grains into a new batch of milk and let them grow again and reproduce.

Now, here’s what I typically did before:

Get a quart sized glass jar or anything similar.

Add around 1/4 cup of Kefir Grains. It could be more or less. It’s up to you.

Add the cold or room temperature milk. Make sure it’s just right which is around 3/4 full of the jar or depending on the container you use.

Here’s the defining moment. You’d want to cover it just right. Not too tight, making it lose will be ideal. Close it too tight and it will be carbonated. People actually enjoy it like that especially when they use fruits and not milk. If you did close it tight, remember when you left it because it will “explode”

With the Kefir Grains in the milk, wait for 18 to 24 hours. You will know when it’s ready when the milk has thickened.

If after 24 hours and it still hasn’t thickened, you will have to add more kefir grains. Use less milk next time.

You will know if you waited too long. How? When you see that your Kefir is on top and the produced whey is on the bottom. No worries though, just remove some grains or just add more milk.

When it’s finally thick enough, use a strainer and pull out the grains from the kefir. Plastic strainers are ideal but cheesecloth is also great for this job. From my experience, I’ve have no problems with using metal utensils. I have friends though that really stand by the “Don’t Use Metal Stuff” with your Kefir Grains.

Drink your all natural, easily made, fresh glass of kefir!

I did that before, but I strongly suggest you check this out for even easier, step by step and better results.

Wait! What should I do with the leftovers?
Well, it’s not really a problem! Just keep it in the ref! So it’s ready to drink anytime or to be used for other kefir recipes!

How about the kefir grains?
That’s the best part! Just move it to another container and pour milk or whatever you choose to this time. It’s a never ending cycle and they keep on multiplying.

About Giselle

Giselle is a nutritionist/writer/entrepreneur and.... unsurprisingly, the owner of this blog. She also writes on CushFood, which is a new herbs, food and nutrition blog. She loves the gym, and she can flex & split like a zombie, coz she's a freak like that. Follow the Your Kefir Source Twitter Profile and Facebook page here!